The Atlanta Hawks draft room was split between Luka Doncic and Trae Young.
The Hawks ultimately chose Young because he brought the Hawks a first-round draft pick.
The Hawks added a new floor leader to their rebuilding effort by acquiring Young in Thursday night’s exchange of NBA draft picks with the Dallas
Mavericks.
.tpClipInfo > * { display: none !important; }.tpPlayer { display: none !important; }.tpReleaseList > * { display: none !important; }.tpReleaseModel > * { display: none !important; }.tpNavigation > * { display: none !important; }.tpSearch > * { display: none !important; }.tpCategoryModel > * { display: none !important; }.tpHeader > * { display: none !important; }.tpCategoryList > * { display: none !important; }Atlanta drafted Doncic
http://www.patriotsauthorizedshop.com/authentic-danny-shelton-jerseyy , the guard from Slovenia, with the No. 3 overall pick and then traded rights to
Doncic to Dallas for rights to Young, who was the No. 5 selection, and a 2019
first-round pick.
For Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk, it was all about remaining loyal to goals of adding talent and adding assets .
”In all honesty, our group was really split between the two,” Schlenk said, adding the Hawks regarded the guards as ”the best two playmakers in the
draft.”
”Luka is a heck of a player. We were happy with him. Trae is a heck of a player. Obviously we’re excited to have him. When the opportunity came to pick
up a first-round pick from the Mavericks, it just kind of made sense to
accomplish both goals with one move.”
The Hawks will have three first-round picks in 2019, just as in this year’s draft.
Young is best known for his 3-point shooting. The Hawks selected Maryland’s Kevin Huerter, a shooting guard
Da'Shawn Hand Color Rush Jersey , at No. 19 overall. Atlanta’s third first-round pick was power forward Omari Spellman of Villanova, at No. 30
overall.
Atlanta traded its second-round pick, Kansas point guard Devonte Graham, to Charlotte for second-round selections in 2019 and 2023.
Schlenk focused on outside shooters in the draft.
Young led the nation with his averages of 27.4 points and 8.7 assists for Oklahoma. He is the first player to lead the nation in scoring and assists in
the same season.
Huerter made 42 percent of his 3-point shots as a sophomore last season at Maryland while averaging 14.8 points per game.
Spellman (6-9, 255) was considered one of the best shooters among big men in the draft. He made 43 percent of his 3s last season while averaging 10.9 points
as a freshman starter on Villanova’s national championship team.
Young worked out for the Hawks on June 12. He said the trade to Atlanta wasn’t a surprise.
”I got a feeling past few days that would happen, that was a possibility, but you never really know until your name is called,” Young said in a telephone
interview.
The 6-foot-2 Young scored at least 40 points in four games and tied a Division I record by recording 22 assists in a game.
Young’s deep 3-pointers earned him comparisons with Golden State’s Stephen Curry, but Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk said he was won over by Young’s
floor leadership.
”We love his ability to pass the ball, to make other players better with his court vision,” said Schlenk
Richard Rodgers Color Rush Jersey , a former assistant GM with the Warriors. ”Obviously he gets a lot of notoriety for his long-range shooting, but
I think his ability to pass the ball is what we really liked about him.”
Schlenk’s review impressed Young.
”It means a lot because a lot of people in my opinion are so focused on my ability to shoot, which is a really big thing, especially in the NBA, but my
ability to pass I feel is really underrated,” Young said.
Hawks veteran point guard Dennis Schroder’s future in Atlanta is uncertain. Schlenk said Schroder and Young could play together.
This is not the first time the Hawks have quickly traded the No. 3 overall pick. In 2001, the Hawks made Pau Gasol the No. 3 overall pick and then traded
his draft rights to the Memphis Grizzlies for Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
Doncic was Atlanta’s highest draft pick since 2007, when center Al Horford was the No. 3 pick. The trade for Young gives first-year coach Lloyd Pierce a
new scoring weapon.
���Obviously his ability to shoot the ball in today’s NBA, the 3-point shot, is very important,” Schlenk said. ”What really separates him with his shooting is
his ability to shoot off the dribble. You don’t see that in a lot of guys and he
possesses that.”
The Hawks finished last in the Eastern Conference last season
Connor Williams Color Rush Jersey , when they began to rely heavily on young players. Forward-center John Collins showed promise as a rookie, and
forward Taurean Prince is another young piece of the rebuilding effort. Veterans
Kent Bazemore and Dwayne Dedmon are under contract for next season.
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AP Sports Writer Schuyler Dixon in Dallas contributed to this report
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As five years of hockey frustration ended for the New Jersey Devils, players embraced, raised their sticks to salute their long-suffering fans and just
imagined what the future held.
The New Jersey Devils are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2012, knowing they have a shot at the Stanley Cup, like 15 other teams after clinching
a postseason berth with a 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday
night.
No tee times this year. No vacation. The real hockey starts next week.
.tpClipInfo > * { display: none !important; }.tpPlayer { display: none !important; }.tpReleaseList > * { display: none !important; }.tpReleaseModel > * { display: none !important; }.tpNavigation > * { display: none !important; }.tpSearch > * { display: none !important; }.tpCategoryModel > * { display: none !important; }.tpHeader > * { display: none !important; }.tpCategoryList > * { display: none !important; }”There’s certain moments in your life and certain moments in a season that you want to be able to celebrate,” Devils coach John Hynes said. ”This is one of
them. It’s a significant accomplishment for us to be able to get ourselves back
into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.”
What the Devils did this season was remarkable. They finished last in the Eastern Conference with 28 wins and 70 points.
Their win over the Maple Leafs was their 44th of the season and gave them 97 points with a game to go in the regular season. Patrick Maroon did most of the
important work against the Leafs, setting up second-period goals by Pavel Zacha
and Miles Wood to provide the margin of victory.
After that, it was just a matter of holding off the playoff-bound Maple Leafs, who pushed in the third period.
Keith Kinkaid, the mainstay in goal since the end of January
Lamar Jackson Jersey Elite , made 31 saves as the Devils won their fourth straight and extended their points streak to eight games (7-0-1). He preserved
the lead with a stop in close on Auston Matthews with just over seven minutes to
play
He called the final 10 minutes stressful and exciting.
”The fans were into it,” he said. ”That’s an unreal atmosphere out there. You hear how loud they were. Everyone is battling. Everyone is back-checking.
Everyone is doing all the little things and we’re a really hard team to play
against when we do that.”
When the final horn sounded there was a sense of accomplishment. A cheer went up when the Stanley Cup logo and the Devils’ logo were shown on the overhead
scoreboard.
Center Travis Zajac skated behind defenseman and captain Andy Greene and hugged him. It’s been a long five years for the only two holdovers from the 2012
team that lost the Stanley Cup Final to the Kings.
”We’re a group that doesn’t give up,” Greene said. ”We are relentless. We play for each other. We play hard for each other.”
The Devils also earned this spot, going 10-2-1 in its past 13 games.
William Nylander scored on a power play in the first period for Toronto to ice his second straight 20-goal season. Frederik Andersen was outstanding,
making 37 saves, including saves on breakaways by Taylor Hall and Michael
Grabner in the big second period.
The loss was only the fourth in 13 games (9-4) for the Maple Leafs, who will face either Boston or Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs.
”They are a good team,” Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner said. ”That’s as close to playoff hockey as we are going to get right now. That was kind of us
last year, fighting for a spot to get in. They played hard. They played well.
They didn’t give us too much.”
New Jersey, which is currently the first wild card in the Eastern Conference, will have to wait for its playoff opponent to be decided.
While the Devils had the majority of shots for the first 27-plus minutes
Jake Marisnick Houston Astros Jersey , they fell behind 1-0 when Nylander scored from the right circle 12 seconds after Nico Hischier was called
for tripping.
Zacha didn’t tie the game until 7:55 of the second period. He won a puck along the boards in center ice, worked a give-and-go with Maroon entering the
Toronto zone and beat Andersen with a shot from the left circle just under the
crossbar.
Maroon, who was acquired in a trade deadline deal with Edmonton, did all the work on Wood’s 18th goal. He fended off Nazem Kadri carrying the puck from in
front of his bench, all the way behind the net and then came out the other side
and found Wood alone in front for a slam dunk.
NOTES: Matthews extended his point-scoring streak to eight games with an assist on Nylander’s goal. … The Devils won the season series 2-0-1. … Hall’s
nine-game points scoring streak and four-game goals run were snapped. …. There
were four penalties in the game.
UP NEXT
Maple Leafs: Host Montreal on Saturday night in regular-season finale.
Devils: End the regular season at Washington on Saturday night.
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More NHL hockey: .
